Software Designer in Orange County, CA

I'm a big fan of the internet show put on by Pat Gray and Stu Burguiere every morning. Once a week, they call random convenience stores around the country and ask the clerk 4 quick questions. If the person doesn't know the answer, Pat or Stu will usually make something up. This is one of the better dialogs between them a clerk. Last question is the best. (You'll find a transcription of the questions and answers below the video.)

Politics aside, California is screwed. I'm not talking about how people vote. I'm just talking about people in general. I'm talking about the clear downward trend of quality people in our society. People are so incredibly selfish. Nobody thinks of others anymore. There was a time when people were genuinely kind, when people were courteous while driving, and when people were friendly in everyday encounters.

Today was a breaking point for me. I witnessed two people fighting over position in line for a gas pump. An oblivious person backed into me with his car. I was cut off by a driver while I walked through a parking lot (I guess pedestrians don't have the right-of-way anymore). I was almost hit by a guy running a red light. I was almost hit by another person making a right turn who failed to stop and look before turning.

Far too many people think the hands-free calling law means they can hold their phone on speakerphone. Nobody turns their head when changing lanes and nobody signals. People are so distracted by their cell phones that those of us who aren't distracted have to look out for them and guide them back into their lanes by the occasional honk of the horn.

I intentionally seek out stores with positive, friendly cashiers. It makes the experience exponentially better. There was a time when people waved to each other while driving through neighborhoods, and when strangers would engage in friendly small talk. I am disappointed that I never got to experience that culture here.

Of course, it's not like this everywhere. In fact most of America is still relatively friendly. The pace of life is just different.

But in terms of California, I don't see things ever getting better. It's still every man for himself. And unless people realize that we're all in this together and no one is so important that they can't be friendly, courteous and polite, California will continue down this spiral and continue to become a less and less enjoyable place to live.

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Hundreds of thousands of people have found Posterous to be the smartest and easiest way to blog. I switched a couple years ago after becoming frustrated with the hassles of maintaining a self-hosted Wordpress blog.

While people love Posterous, a pain point has been theme choices and customization. While Posterous has been busy beefing up the selection of themes (see here and here), I am constantly asked questions like "How do I change the date format of my posts?" to "How can I upload my own background image?" and "How can I add my Twitter feed?" Up until now, these changes have required digging into code. But not anymore.

Today, I'd like to present my solution: My own easy-to-use theme editor with a bajillion options that will let you tweak the heck out of your theme without dealing with any code. Oh, and it will be free! =]

This editor is a perfect complement to the built-in theme editor provided by Posterous. And with new changes Posterous has made for developers, you can install these themes in one simple click, without having to copy and paste code whatsoever.

Oh, and along with this editor will be coming a whole slew of new themes, both free and premium.

Over time, all of themes I've ever built will be offered through my new editor. While I'm busy putting the final touches on the system, you can sign up to be the first to find out when I launch. Sign up for updates at http://themes.posterous.com or follow me on Twitter.

Last night, I was @replied by someone on Twitter asking for my email address.

A few hours later, I received a forwarded email thread. As it turns out, my recent post about Apple.com vs Microsoft.com homepages was the topic of debate. This guy and a group of his friends had been analyzing my post and ripping it apart. Along with a couple valid points came a lot of hate because they thought I was an Apple fanboy (which I'm not). Here are a select few of the quotes from different people in the thread:

He doesn't even raise a single valid point. Nothing he says is backed up by any reasonable evidence. Everything little thing he says basically screams "I'm a f***ing idiot. I don't get any of this." If he's trying to make any coherent thoughts, valid points, or striking debate, he's absolutely failed in every way imaginable. I'd be floored if this guy had ANY experience in web design, front or backend work.

The fact that this poor dope couldn't debate his way out of a wet paper bag, or construct a tangable thought and effectively convey it to sway opinion, I have to say he appears to simply be another uninformed apple fanboy trying incredibly too hard to bitch about the big guys.

There is so much more I could have ranted about with what this dips*** said. I could have delved in depth about design process, the backend of why things are done a particular way in web design, etc, etc. This guy is a troll in a way. I think he really does stand behind his ideas and opinions, no matter how slanted and ignorant they are.

Somewhere down the road, only having one mouse button to lick must have made cognitive thought / basic problem solving skills go right out the f***ing window with this dumb sap.

I certainly don't credit him as some kind of intellectual duelist, hell, I'm no debater myself, but as far as making a point and swaying opinion go, it looks like he barely got his out without causing his Macbook Air to go up in flames from the amount of drool that likely seeped out of his slack jawed mouth while typing this mindless heap of s***.

And then one of them suggested sending the thread to me, to which one replied:

I hope you do, that dumb f*** needs some help.

I remember seeing this kind of pointless hate when I use to hang out in digital video newsgroups back in high school. People would rag on others for no reason. I've never understood the mindset or the insecurity (possibly?) of those who have nothing better to do than to type long responses with mostly four letter words to others. Note that there is a difference between constructive criticism and ranting, and just general, pointless hate and running of the mouth. You don't see this kind of behavior in face to face confrontations, and I don't see why there has ever been a point to it online.

And that's one of the things I love about the Posterous community as a whole. About 99.9% of the people on Posterous are genuinely nice people, and a joy to interact with. So if you're part of that 99.9%, I'd just like to say thanks. It's been fun getting to know some of you over the past year, and I look forward to interacting with more of you in the future.

Apple features a single product, while Microsoft tries to promote three.

Apple has four small boxes to promote different things at the bottom of their homepage. Microsoft throws in random links and lists to fill up space. Oh, and a random ad.

Companies pay big bucks for usability and design reviews. But because I'm such a nice guy, I'm going to review Microsoft's homepage for them for free.

(Having trouble reading my notes? At the bottom of the image, click Download full size.)

I point all this out because I am a big fan of Microsoft. Everyday, more and more people switch their allegiance to Apple, simply because "they get it." While Microsoft makes some good products, they certainly don't go out of their way to prove it.

When I visit Microsoft.com, I should be greeted by the latest and greatest, not some website clearly assembled by a marketing department to "cover all the bases." This homepage serves no purpose, other than to make sure that everybody within Microsoft is happy that they got their little share of the homepage.

Microsoft needs a leader who can communicate with the world that they are still relevant. This homepage certainly doesn't do the company any justice.

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I was updating iPhone apps the other day and noticed the difference in how app developers describe their updates. In almost any app developed by a startup or internet company, app updates often provide detailed descriptions of the updates made to their application, whether they're new features or just bug fixes. Example:

A couple other examples are Skype and Angry Birds.

But with E*Trade, a rigid, financial, East Coast company who I can only assume lives by a very strict code of corporate culture, they simply described their app update with "Maintenance release" (a very corporate term, by the way).

The point is, people like to know what's going on with their devices. Even if you're just fixing stuff, let people know! If you're going to require a user to update your app, you should at least give them the courtesy of letting them know why they're going out of their way for you.

Facebook recently announced hi-res image uploads on their blog. Sometimes, I enjoy reading through the comments more than the actual blog post itself. A lot of these posters use the comments as a way to get in touch with Facebook for customer support. However, some just don't make any sense whatsoever (a few because of a lack of understanding of the English language, even though some of those people use English as their primary language). Here is a selection of comments from recent hours that I found humorous.

I know that complaining about AT&T is like whining about rain in Seattle or sunshine in Orange County, but it's just one of those things you still feel like sharing anyway.

No reception on iPhone or iPad, and a Microcell that appears to be working regardless. Reming me again why I dropped $150 on the device that was supposed to help get me OFF the cell phone towers? Pointless, I tell you.

In November 2009, Qwiki was looking for a designer, and I was interested. I had a discussion with Michael Szewczyk, the Director of Operations at Qwiki. I was then passed off to Doug Imbruce, their CEO. After a good, long phone chat, he sent me their logo and a wireframe for their homepage and asked me to put together an example homepage design.

When you're looking at job candidates for a designer, it's not out-of-the-ordinary for a company to ask a designer to submit a sample design for the target company. The purpose of this is to prove skills, demonstrate creativity, and show that you don't outsource your design work. In fact, this is exactly what Doug told me on the phone: We want to see a mockup to "verify that one can use a design program."

I agreed and spent a few hours on a sample mockup. Although the design was very "v1", it was enough to prove these points. I sent it over, and heard nothing back.

A week later, I saw the job description posted on another job board. At this point, I emailed Doug to follow up. I again heard nothing.

It's pretty clear that Doug looked at my design, didn't like it, and just didn't respond. Instead of using my mockup as proof that I knew how to "use a design program," he took the design at face-value and simply didn't like it.

After days of email discussions, a lengthy phone interview, and hours spent on a sample design, it is professional courtesy to respond to a candidate, either way. Instead, he ignored my design and didn't respond - not even a BS "thanks for applying (and spending hours on a design) but we're going with someone else" email.

It's stuff like this that separates people in the startup space. There are people who respond to every single email in their inbox, despite how busy they are, and then there are people like Doug Imbruce who lack the courtesy of a reply to someone who is doing free work for you.

It's a good reminder for anyone who ever does any hiring. When I start hiring people, I'll make sure I never pull a Doug Imbruce.

I used to love Hulu. It was the place to find TV shows online for the last 3 years.

Recently, Hulu has been pulling boneheaded moves like restricting use of their iPhone/iPad apps to Hulu Plus subscribers, throwing in way too many ads in places they don't below (pre-roll AND an ad after a 30 second show intro), etc.

But Sunday morning, I was greeted with a message I've never seen before:

"Episode available on Hulu Sunday, Sept. 26"

Only problem was...it was Sunday, Sept. 26. And keep in mind that this episode was already placed in my Queue. I regularly watch Hulu as I crawl into bed in the wee hours of the morning after working all night, and have always been able to catch shows in the early hours. This screen seems to be new, preventing me from watching shows on the day they're supposed to be released, because I tried to watch them "too early".

In the past, Hulu's focus was on creating a great user experience. It's sad to see them shift away from caring about their users.